The COVID-19 pandemic and international factors of post-Soviet Central Asian states’ vaccine policies

The article examines the politics of international supplies of anti-COVID-19 vaccines to the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia. These countries have focused on the diversification of vaccine supplies, in line with their multi-vector foreign policies. Initially, the richest countries in the region, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, had an advantage in access to vaccines. However, eventually vaccine supplies from China and then from Western countries (facilitated by such international organizations and programs as UNICEF, Asian Development Bank, and COVAX) started to arrive in the Spring and Summer of 2021. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have established their own production of the Russian vaccine, while Uzbekistan also produces a vaccine developed in China. The main conclusion is that the supply of vaccines to the region is determined, first and foremost, by commercial and humanitarian considerations, while geopolitical rivalries among the supplying countries have not played a significant role so far.